Farmer's Market Pasta...

I adore pasta.  I would probably eat it for every single meal if it wasn't so dang calorie-intensive.  The interesting thing about this one is that it's sort of a light and summery pasta.  It doesn't seem as heavy as most of the sauce-laden ones out there.  Because of this, I'm a little apprehensive about the reheating...we'll see how that goes (and I'll update on here when I know).  However, even if it doesn't work out long-term as a freezer meal (hopefully it does), I'll definitely make it again.  I think it'd be awesome for a little summer dinner party...in the original recipe on Pinch of Yum they made it in individual ramekins, which would be so dang cute for having people over, I can't even stand it!  I went ahead and just made it in a casserole dish, since it's just for me and I was splitting it up anyway.   The one caveat I have, is that my version isn't quite as farmer's market-like as the original, since the original intent was to have everything fresh, and that just isn't feasible for me on a normal day (maybe for that dinner party though).  Aaaand, I forgot to take a before picture again AND forgot about the portioned picture too until well after it was in the freezer, so I didn't bother (geez!)...sorry :)  So, here we go:

Farmer's Market Pasta (the not-so-farmer's-markety-version)
4 servings - 330 calories each

**Please note, there should be frozen peas in this picture, but I forgot...it was a weird day**

Ingredients:

1 c. peas (I used frozen, but fresh would be good too if you want to cook them up)

2 c. dry pasta (I used the little shells)

1/4 c. reserved pasta water

1/2 T butter

3/4 c. ricotta or cottage cheese (I used cottage cheese)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 c. parmesan, shredded

1/3 c. + 1/4. c. mozzarella, shredded

1 tsp. olive oil

fresh torn basil (I used about 4 big leaves)

Seasonings, to taste

Directions:

Cook pasta until al dente and then drain (reserving 1/4 c. of pasta water as mentioned above).  Toss in butter and peas.  While pasta is cooking, mix together cottage cheese (or ricotta), garlic, olive oil and seasonings.  (At this point in the original recipe, they said to put this mixture in the food processor till smooth.  I chose not to do that, because I was feeling lazy and my food processor was buried in the cabinet.  Feel free to try it either way...I don't think it made a big difference).  Stir in parmesan, 1/3 c. mozzarella, and basil.  Add this mixture and the 1/4 c. reserved pasta water back into the pasta, and mix.  Top with additional 1/4 c. mozzarella and broil for 5-6 minutes until cheese is melted and starts to brown a little at the edges.

So I'll be serving this with a crescent roll (I know...a lot of crescent rolls...I love bread though, I just like to have it with my meals whenever possible...and they're the easiest thing to throw in) for a total of 430 calories per serving.